UIW fires President Louis Agnese after controversial comments

Updated 3:50 pm, Friday, October 7, 2016

Photo: Juanito M Garza, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

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The University of the Incarnate Word’s governing board voted unanimously Monday, Aug. 29, 2016, to remove Louis Agnese Jr. as president after he allegedly made offensive comments about African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and Mormons. less

The University of the Incarnate Word’s governing board voted unanimously Monday, Aug. 29, 2016, to remove Louis Agnese Jr. as president after he allegedly made offensive comments about African Americans, ... more

Photo: Juanito M Garza, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

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From the letter: "He then repeatedly made reference to one of my new classmates, by name, and pointed her out, made her stand up, and proceeded to tell everyone the story of how she got into the UIW DPT program, how she was not good enough to be accepted at any other program because of her poor test scores but that luckily she knows him [Agnese] so he contacted the Dean of the UIW DPT program and directed her to allow said student to audit the program for some time and to provide employment for the student and voila, here she is now! "…only at UIW can this happen,…" he said."

From the letter: "He then repeatedly made reference to one of my new classmates, by name, and pointed her out, made her stand up, and proceeded to tell everyone the story of how she got into the UIW DPT

From the letter: "…we were all also informed of Agnese’s support of Mr. Donald J. Trump and his hatred of Mrs. Hillary Clinton."

From the letter: "…we were all also informed of Agnese’s support of Mr. Donald J. Trump and his hatred of Mrs. Hillary Clinton."

Photo: San Antonio Express-News

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From the letter: "He went on to ask if there were any Native Americans in the group and pointed out that their "…Indian red skin color would also count as wearing Cardinal red." "

From the letter: "He went on to ask if there were any Native Americans in the group and pointed out that their "…Indian red skin color would also count as wearing Cardinal red." "

Photo: San Antonio Express-News

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From the letter: "During our luncheon earlier today, Dr. Agnese asked graduates of UIW to stand up… However, the third student, a black woman, standing was not wearing UIW colors and this was immediately pointed out by Dr. Agnese, only to follow this up with “Well, you’re lucky you’re black so you are in a way wearing Cardinal black.” "

From the letter: "During our luncheon earlier today, Dr. Agnese asked graduates of UIW to stand up… However, the third student, a black woman, standing was not wearing UIW colors and this was immediately

From the letter: "Then he pointed out another student and asked him where he was from. When the student responded with "Dallas," Dr. Agnese persisted, "…no, where is your family originally from? You’re Indian, right?" "

From the letter: "Then he pointed out another student and asked him where he was from. When the student responded with "Dallas," Dr. Agnese persisted, "…no, where is your family originally from? You’re

From the letter: "Dr. Agnese referred to one of the faculty, a Hispanic man, by the wrong first name, "Javiere," and when that faculty member gently and respectfully corrected him (his actual name is Jamie), Dr. Agnese responded with "… well, close enough, you look like a Jose…" "

From the letter: "Dr. Agnese referred to one of the faculty, a Hispanic man, by the wrong first name, "Javiere," and when that faculty member gently and respectfully corrected him (his actual name is Jamie),

From the letter: "And we learned from Dr. Agnese that apparently "the Mormons" have a stronghold in the UIW computer graphics and design school."

From the letter: "And we learned from Dr. Agnese that apparently "the Mormons" have a stronghold in the UIW computer graphics and design school."

Photo: San Antonio Express-News

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From the letter: "The tamest portion of Dr. Agnese’s rant came toward the end when he made reference to taking three months off every year from drinking to make up for all of the drinking he does the other nine months. He then made, you guessed it, off color remarks about alcoholism, remarks that several students took deep and profound personal offense to."

From the letter: "The tamest portion of Dr. Agnese’s rant came toward the end when he made reference to taking three months off every year from drinking to make up for all of the drinking he does the other

From the letter: "The only thing that came close to making me as sick and as angry is the fact that no one, including faculty and administrators… who were in attendance, said or did anything. They just chuckled and shook their heads. Finally, thankfully, at least some of the faculty had enough and simply left."

From the letter: "The only thing that came close to making me as sick and as angry is the fact that no one, including faculty and administrators… who were in attendance, said or did anything. They just

The board’s decision, made in a closed-door meeting this afternoon and coming after more than a week of controversy over statements Agnese made at a luncheoan, ends Agnese’s three-decade long tenure at the helm of the Catholic university.

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It’s a sudden, dramatic departure for Agnese, 65, who was hired as president in 1985 at a time when Incarnate Word was an obscure college suffering from dwindling enrollment.

Last week, an anonymous complaint first reported by mySA.com accused Agnese of making offensive comments about African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and Mormons at an Aug. 15 luncheon for physical therapy students.

“We’ve known for a long time that Dr. Agnese has a reputation for being blunt, eccentric, colorful, even abrasive,” stated the anonymous letter sent by “very concerned students” to UIW. “But the statements made by him today were so egregiously over the top that I became viscerally sickened by them.”

Agnese didn’t deny making the comments but insisted they weren’t offensive.

“I haven't made an offensive comment in my life,” Agnese told the San Antonio Express-News last week.

At the luncheon, Agnese singled out an African American student who wasn’t wearing the school colors of Cardinal red. “Well, you’re lucky you’re black so you are in a way wearing Cardinal black,” Agnese reportedly told her.

Agnese went on to ask if there were any Native American students in the group and said their “Indian-red skin color would also count as wearing Cardinal red.”

According to the complaint, Agnese made another student stand up, said she wasn’t good enough to get into any other program because of her poor test scores, and noted how lucky she was to be accepted to UIW.

Agnese told the Express-News he also praised the student for excelling at UIW. "Now she has the highest test score of anybody in the program," Agnese said.

At another point, Agnese reportedly addressed a Hispanic faculty member by calling him by the wrong name. When the man corrected Agnese and said his name was Jaime, Agnese responded, “Well, close enough, you look like a José.”

On Aug. 18, Lutz released an announcement to the UIW community saying Agnese was placed on 90-day medical leave. Without offering details, Lutz apologized to anyone who might have been offended by Agnese’s behavior.

That same day, Agnese told the Express-News nothing was medically wrong with him. Upset and defiant, Agnese threatened to “sue the pants off” Lutz if the board didn’t issue a retraction.

“I will have the board send out a retraction to that (expletive) they sent out today,” Agnese said. “They ruined my reputation of 31 years. They will send out a retraction by Monday or I will sue the chair of the board. You can put that in the paper in quotes.”

Agnese later backed down from that threat.

On Friday, after the Express-News and other local news outlets published details of the anonymous complaint against Agnese, Lutz released a statement praising Agnese’s service at UIW but added that his recent comments “cannot be condoned.”